Tory conference 2013: five things we learned

1. Labour set the agenda for this conference.

Ed Miliband might be preoccupied by his row with the Daily Mail about his father, but he can take heart that his shift to the left in Brighton last week had a huge influence over this Conservative party conference. This wasn’t just the cost of living agenda, which Tory ministers felt the need to rebut and respond to in their own speeches, but, as James explains in his politics column this week (get a sneak preview on Coffee House here), Ed Miliband has energised the Tories into being more determined than ever to beat Labour. David Cameron’s own speech contained 25 references to Labour, and he tried to deal with Ed Miliband in a number of ways, which I outlined here. Even though the circumstances of his row with the Mail are hardly ones Ed Miliband would wish on anyone, his decision to stand up to the paper means that he has rather overshadowed the Tories on the news agenda this week too.

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